The Akatsuki Exclusive
by shukaka
Summary: Itachi never doubted that The Akatsuki was the most elite arrangment to exist and only the best dwelled within its walls, but whe new girl joins the scene and Itachi endured horror filled visions of a bloody past how do family, friendship and love abide?
1. Chapter One : And thus it begins

We were always an exclusive arrangement, a very exclusive arrangement, A stylishly exclusive arrangement, with a capital almost as big as our goal. Money was never the issue, although the same could not be said for incompitence. However lazy or slack we became the aforementioned statement always applied. We were e-x-c-l-u-s-i-v-e, and not just anyone could buy them selves or schmooze themselves or force themselves in. Every one of our seven members were unique in their own right, we all had our own skills that none could oppose and we all loved what we did so you can imagine the uproar when someone had the audacity to intrude.

Leader thought our group was small, too small. We thought our group was compact and efficient, just the way we liked it and any form of change was most definantly unwelcome. IWe protested, we refused to work, we refused to eat, we refused to live but with harsh times and Leader's growing compassion towards us it seemed we'd all forgotten how powerful, how strict he was and that none of us were to oppose him, ever. We were soon enough reminded of that.

Over the next few weeks Leader became ever more reserved and made him self scarce in a desperate bid to find a candidate to fit the role, we all had high expectations and had created out own personal ultimatums.

_HE _needed to be articullate and wise.

_HE _needed to be experienced.

_HE _ needed to have a unique skill to add to the table.

_HE _ needed to be handsome, the last thing The Akatsuki Elite want is a bad rep.

_HE _needed to be a HE.

.

..

...

Leader gave us three days to decide before** she **arrived, and by decide i mean decide who was going to go and collect her, and that brings us the beggining of our story.


	2. Chapter Three: Close the curtains

Sun light. Burning sunlight. I blinked several times and groaned.

"Morning pudding cup, rise and shine!" A high pitched squeal more than that of a man.

I growled a sweet "The fuck do you want?" It couldnt have been any later than eight, eight thirty at best. I reluctantly flung my satin covers onto the carpet and siezed my phone out of it's charger from the end table, _6.17._

. . .

A bouffont of blonde hair perched itself on the end of my bed weighing it down and forcing me to sit up straight, deidara. The stupid idiot blinked in utter insufferable ignorance of my anger, i sat up and stared at him intensly.

"i-"

His lips smashed down on mine, and he traced along my naked spine with his womanly fingers sending involuntary chills, i pressed my hands against his chest and with as much force as i could muster, pushed him away, he stumbled towards the back wall, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and was about to jump out of bed and beat the shit out of a certain someone when I stopped and stared.

He was still a blonde boffount but he was... my mother. She..or he, danced over to my bed and with the grace of a swan, she placed her cold hand in mine and pulled me out of the bed. Whatever Jutsu Deidara was plauing on me, these were the wrong strings to mess with. The chill morning air hit my skin and i shivered. She tiptoed a step back and surveyed my appearence.

"Itachi..." she whispered.

She danced around me, her feet entwining and stopped on my left side.

"Itachi..." she whispered. Her soft fingers stroked the back of my neck and brushed my locks to the front of me.

"Itachi, my boy...you've cut your hair"

She blinked and smiled her sweet, tender, motherly smile. It reminded me of times from long ago, youth's keen sting punched me in the chest and rendered me unable to speak.

I swallowed.

"Maybe you can get a job now" she kept on smiling.

"Mother, I have a job. I work with the Akatsuki.." I was keener now, I relished at the chance to tell her all I'd been doing, excitement rose in my chest.

"A real job, sweetie"

Dissapointment stabbed excitement with a sharpened bone it's stolen from the carcuss of a barn owl it had slaughtered several days earlier.

She tiptoed closer to me, her hair now reaching her natural colour ahd her cheeks becoming rosey. She placed her hand on my neck, her touch startled me, it didn't feel the same, it felt rough and coarse and i felt myself unable to move.

Her grip tightened affectionately, a little too affectionately, agressive now, i felt trepidation well up inside the pit of my stomach, i wanted to move, i wanted to run, but i couldnt. I was rigid, i was stone. I felt a trail of wet saliva on my neck as she leaned closer but not from the tongue of my mother, of something else. It felt like sandpaper and was at least a foot long. I saw Her soft, alabaster skin grow old in seconds before my eyes, it sagged and wrinkled, and looked as if it were about to fall off of her face, i watched as the youth and beauty she prized so much diminished, it grew tighter and scales appeared, turning from beige to a briliant emerald, a shining beautiful green that reflected everything, the natural light danced on her scales as she moved performing a beautiful array of distracting gestures.

She danced once more, shoving daisies into my face, her favourite flower. I didn't know where she'd got them from, i was too fixated on her face, i didn't even realise her body had changed to, it's body. It was no longer my mother.

I looked into it's eyes, rocks of polished quartz, they blinked innocently and betrayed no emotion.

The aroma calmed me, and if i had the ability my shoulders would have relaxed. It placed them in my hands and disapparated, not out of my own accord i walked over to the mirror and scrutinized my appearance. I had bags under my eyes, my wrinkles ever more prominent, though my skin was smooth with not a flaw it looked tired, i was tired in every sense of the word. Although tousseled my hair had not one strand astray. My eyes looked tired and they were, they truly were. I blinked and my skin smoothed itself, i was new, i was fresh and ambitious, my hair was neat and my eyes bright. The flowers fell from my hands and shattered like glass.

"Morning pudding cup, rise and-"

I screamed. I shot upright, and screamed.

I felt cold sweat down my back, and my mouth was dry, my eyes held back involuntary tears from the chil morning air, i panted and heaved and felt all trepidation inside of me release itself, my shoulders relaxed. Deidara came rushing over and placed a hand on my shoulder, his cold skin sent me an unwelcome shiver, his brows knitted and a worried look on his face, i batted it away and seized my phone from it's charger on the end table. _6.17._

I turned back to Deidara who lookoed worried still but also offended. "What the hell do you want?" I growled with uneccesary volume, he had the expression of a child who had just been told off, his lip quivvered and his hands knitted themselves together.

"Out, get out,,,"

"But i-"

"OUT!"

He ran, as fast as i'd ever seen him run. A part of me felt slightly guilty but however i didn't care.

I couldn't get my head around the dream, why my mother...why daisies. And why had i dreamt incidents that would repeat themselves in the morning, namely Deidara greeting me.

i pushed such thoughts aside and readied myself for the day ahead.


	3. Chapter 3: An uneventful encounter

No matter how hard i tried I couldn't push the dream aside, it was so vivid, so real, so...weird. I couldnt believe how i'd let a silly dream phase me, how i'd almost leaped into my mothers arms in a desperate bid to see her, be held by her, without suspicion.

I studied myself in the bathroom mirror, my eyes were tired, my skin held a grey tinge, my wrinkles were prominent, my hair unruly, my mouth downturned, flaw after flaw after flaw. I looked like a twat. I ran my fingers through my raven tresses, untangling the knots and secured them at the back with a hair band. Frowning but satisfied i closed the door behind me and headed for downstairs.

I eyed the living quarters nervously as i advanced and surveyed the room, a blue reptillian aqua fellow, kisame, lay slumped across the only sofa carelessly flicking through channels, but more interested in the scales underneath his nails. A cross-legged figure sat in the matching-red-satin chair adjacent, fingers crossed and eyes set purposely on a smirking Kisame.

"For hells sake, keep it on dave, DAVE." A suspiciously feminine voice for a man, but Hidan none the less.

"Dave is the channel of satan..." LandFish holds back snigger.

"EXACTLY." Hidan sprung from his heel and lunged onto Kisame, and wrestled for the remote.

This was my time to casually stroll in, nothing weird happened this morning, nothing strange. . .

"Hiding something?"

Hidan threw a startled glance at me as he and Kisame jumped to their feet. They both mused a simaltenious 'Good Morning' to me, as Kisame held the remote control for the television securely behind his back, I saw Hidan make a desperate, clumsy swipe for it but Kisame kicked deviously his shin, I raised an eyebrow but walked in the direction of the kitchen, 'what crawled up their arses' i muttered to myself, glancing at Hidan "more like what didn't" sniggered Kisame.

I ignored their incompetent childish ways and took the scenic route towards the kitchen, i backed my tracks and traced my fingers along the stone walls of the corridor, these wayys were ancient and had long since been carved underground generations back by the most skilled craftsmen. The walls were marble and laden with intricate designs, some involving expensive, fine stones and jewels that no0doubt took years, upon centuries to construct.

I closed my eyes and inhaled the dusty aroma, i let my hand guide me, it traced the front of archways and wooden doors and allowed me to lose myself in my thoughts. My mind drew me back to my first birthday, my second, my ninth, my fifteenth, all cold neon research labs and nothing more. I stopped and opened my eyes, my hand touched something different. Not, stone, steel. Not a wall, a pole. A voice sounded, not quite juse to to air around, but in my mind, my hand tightened confidently around the pole and I turned to face the black abyss that the poles guarded, full-well knowing what lay beneath.

'Good Morning Itachi-san' Mused a gruff, polite voice, I knew he wouldn't usually speak this way so I appreciated his efforts.

"Zetsu" I greeted in turn.

"Haven't recieved a visitor in a while, no sir, no we haven't" I agreed with him, he seemed to shift forward and his eyes focused themselves and became more visible in the darkness. "What brings you here?" his tone was curious yet also knowing.

I debated whether to ask for genuine advice, Zetsu in his own right held the fair bit of intelligence when it came to knowing favourable outcomes, however in realistic terms he just didn't have the logic.

He sat patiently in an awkward position, balanced precariously on the balls of his feet, i studied him. The little greasy strands of wire hair he had hung limp at the sides of his face hollow, bony, his eyes bugged out and his skin bore a texture not dissimilar to leather.

"I have come to seek your advice." I swallowed and hoped i did not regret my decision.

Zetsu smirked, an uninviting smirk which revealed his decaying, blackened teeth and filthy bleeding gums, his bony wrists flexed his skeletal hands and his lengthy, unkempt yellowing nails scraped across the stone floor.

"Glad, as always -another smirk- to oblige my friends and neighbours".


	4. Chapter 4: Knowing me, knowing you

The walls twisted and smoked and my eyes faltered for a second, the ceiling turned and wind hit me, my feet were bare and and a sweet aroma attacked my flared nostrills from all light filled my eyes as i looked upon an open area, i felt grass between my toes. Young boy of eight or nine stood infront of me, my mother crouched in front of him, hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry my boy, you'll understand soon" her features softened into a smile, her tone was sweet and considerate and her voice soothing to the ear.

"Yes, mother" A monotone reply devoid of all necessary emotion.

"Mother..." I said her name softly and reminiscently expecting no response, her head snapped towards my direction, her smile faltered and she arose from her crouching position, she stopped amd stared at me, eyebrow raised.

"Mother...?" I dubiously called, her features softened and her mouth painted a smile on her canvas face, as she strode towards me, i was well aware that this was some kind of cruel apparation, not unlike my dream but also curious as to how the events would plan out.

I backed away on my tiptoes as she advanced until...-thump-.

I backed into a wall or something, I quickly turned around and felt a rush of could air go past me. I'd backed into my...self?

He...I, looked at me, his face betraying no thought, my eyes were bloodshot and red, my skin holding the familiar grey tinge, i looked old and my skin sagged, my mother came beside me, him.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and he straightened his back, i straightened my back.

He took a deep breath and leant his head back to face the chill ceraulean sky, i took a deep breath and leant my head back to face the sky, i felt the cool air floow my nostrils, if felt reassuring and good. He and I stood proud alike, broad shoulders and a confident stance, my eyes echoed nothing similar, lackluster orbs tired and weary, not just from lack of sleep but from many other things. He mirrored my movements and i mirrored his, we were the same, apart from the figure to the left, gently stroking his shoulder with her hand and smiling sweetly as she always did and the soft weary smile on his face. I was him, i was the same, but how i longed to be in his position, oh yes how i longed, ached, desired, thirsted CRAVED...to be him, and to have her, and to feel a smile...the keen sting of happiness.

A figure darkened upon the horizon, it advanced in slow lazy steps but soon enough reached the position before me, on his son's right side, hand placed lazily on his shoulder, they all wore the same asinine, nonsensical smiles, so ridiculous yet sweetly genuine. I lifted my hand and so did my other self, i slowly lifted it to the point where i would meet his and dubiously our fingers touched, we blinked, i felt his skin on mine, he was real. I walked over to my mother and placed a hand on her shoulder, a cool wind whilled my face, my copy did nothing.

I stood there for a few minutes, relishing the moment, my skin on her skin, she stood there, smiling, but not blinking, a carbon copy, something amiss, i looked at her but she did not look at me, her obsidian orbs faced forward, or really in no direction at all, as if from that or a mannequin. Her mouth opened as if she was about to say something, but she closed it as if she decided against the decision. She didn't return to er sweet smile, instead she frowned and her head snapped towards me.

I flinched.

She moved a hand from copy-me however he preserved his picture stance. My mother scrutinized me with squinting eyes and frowned, she advanced towards me and i backed away, i wasn't suprised when i backed into myself, except he was frowning this time, i movedto the other direction, my father loomed over me, i turned to run and faced...sasuke, my little brother, dear sweet sasuke. He wasn't so little anymore, he'd grown, into a likeness of myself.

My attention turned to my mother,

"Itachi..." She hissed, "**My boy**.."

"**My son**." Fujaku barked

"**My brother**.." Sasuke deadpanned

"**Myself**" Came from carbon me. Their words hung limp in the chill air and the sky grew darker, their words surrounded me, their bodies four human walls.

"_Mother_..." Carbon me sang, "_Mother_..." I echoed to myself. He reached for his pocket and withdrew a kunai. _What am i doing?_ I thought, knowing full-well the answer.

I turned to face him, i a desperate bid now, i put my hands to his chest,,

"Stop..." In a calm tone.

He advanced forward and batted me aside with a machine-like hand, Sasuke and Fujaku were silent onlookers. Mother raised her hands, inviting him.

He backed and took a lung, to the chest, -_Ftstt_- steel collided with her sternum, cracking the bone, she showed no pain. Carbon me backed away to join Fujaku and sasuke, now in a line, satisfied.

I turned to face him and shook him vigourously by the shoulders, rage boiled inside me,

"What do you think your doing, who are YOU?"

He batted me away with a lazy flick of the wrist.

Mother advanced towards me, swan-like and gracefull, i stared at her.

With a painfull expression, she dug her two fingers into her open wound and as I watched with horror she dragged them down my forhead.

_"You're my boy, Itachi, always my boy, but your a __**very naughty boy.**__ Your a __**LIAR **__and a __**SINNER**__ and good boys don't lie and sin." _Her face softened from her agressive expression and the others echoed her accusations, they echoed them and they swum in my head, they filled my skull, and stole my air, and my breathing became ever more hasty, my hands shot to my ears and i closed my eyes in frustration.

_Liar..._

_Sinner..._

_Naughty boy..._

They stole all my air, and filled my ears, and suffocated my space, I lashed out behind me in frustration.

"Shit." I swore as I hit my hand on stone.

"Itachi-san, are you alright? You seemed distant for a few seconds, do you have a headache?"

A few seconds?

I decided against induldging him in my dream.

I decided against asking for advice.

"I'm fine" I lied.

"Your lying he snickered"

I felt a cold chill down my spine and his accusation frustrated me.

"I don't LIE." I growled, and stalked off in the direction of the kitchen, i soon found myself there.


End file.
